Background
Tom is an experienced European and Chartered (UK) Patent Attorney handling patent and design work in a wide range of high technology fields. Prior to starting at Dehns, Tom worked briefly in the Optoelectronics group at Cambridge University investigating organic transistor devices, after graduating from the same university with a first class honours degree (MSci, Natural Sciences, Physics). Tom was made a Partner in 2023.
Type of clients and client work
Tom acts for a range of clients both in the UK and further afield and has experience with all aspects of patent work from ideation to enforcement. Tom handles a significant amount of original drafting work, particularly for complex inventions in the electrical and electronic fields, including computer implemented (software) inventions, as well as for advanced technology inventions for example arising from Dehns’ university clients. Tom’s knowledge and skill in dealing with more complex subject matter is not however at the expense of being able to handle work in more mechanical fields, and a significant proportion of his work is in the engineering and consumer product space
Expertise
Tom has particular experience handling patent applications in the fields of electronics, microprocessors, computing, software, power electronics, scientific instruments, electrical grooming devices, railway engineering, cooling towers, and control systems. Tom also plays an important role in Dehns’ busy dispute resolution team, regularly acting as lead counsel in front of the EPO’s opposition divisions and technical boards of appeals. Tom therefore has good knowledge of the nuances of this work, for example the practicalities of the Appeal Board’s rules of procedure. This in turn also feeds back into best practice drafting and prosecution work.
Qualifications and Memberships
Higher Education
MSci, Natural Sciences (Physics), University of Cambridge